Yosemite Backpacking Watercolors For my scholarship I signed up for a backpacking watercolor course with the Yosemite Conservancy. The course takes place over three days in Yosemite and involves backpacking to May Lake...Read More
The Politics of Patronage: The Story Behind Man Controller of the Universe Art is a mirror of society, reflecting its values, tensions, and aspirations. Nowhere is this relationship more intricate than corporate commissions, where creative freedom is balanced with expectations of flattery....Read More
Mountain View, Heart of Silicon Valley, Puts a “There” There After nearly fifty years of life-changing innovation and creative output, Silicon Valley can still feel vast and desolate. The occasional modern workplace, often insular and opaque, punctuates car-centric roadways, parking...Read More
Welcome Michael Kasow! We recently sat down for an interview with Michael to help you get to know him a bit more. Here’s what we discovered. What excites you about working in HR...Read More
The Art of Making ’Stone In-lay’ Each material, whether natural or man-made, used in our work can be processed or crafted in many different ways to deliver a uniqueness inherent to it. Stone is one such...Read More
Shiver Me Timbers – Boatbuilding in Maine Being on the water has always been a magical experience for me. As a member of the crew team in college, getting down to the boathouse before sunrise was never...Read More
Hues of Blue: Oil Painting in Barbados When I imagined a Caribbean Island I thought of blue skies, white sandy beaches, and turquoise waters. My first trip to the Caribbean, specifically the country of Barbados, felt like...Read More
826 Valencia, A Partnership in Adventure, Inventiveness, Play, and Whimsy 826 Valencia is a nonprofit that provides one-on-one tutoring for under-resourced students to improve writing skills and cultivate a love of learning. Starting in 2018, WRNS Studio has partnered with...Read More
Celebrating WRNS Studio’s 2024 Promotions “At WRNS Studio, leaders emerge in various and overlapping ways—by elevating firm culture, modeling a spirit of craft and experimentation, teaching and sharing ideas, and excelling in technical problem-solving or...Read More
An Intro to Commercial Real Estate: Through an Architecture Lens Having spent the last 10 years working on the design and construction of large-scale offices and mixed-use private developments, I knew surprisingly little about how owners and developers go about...Read More
WRNS Studio has been named a Fast Company 2024 World’s Most Innovative Company We are #6 in Architecture for giving new life to “obsolete” buildings. WRNS Studio embraces a spirit of reuse over replacement to honor the past while minimizing carbon and waste....Read More
Multifamily Residential: What’s the Antidote to Anytown Architecture? A spate of recent articles feature opposition to new housing developments in cities ranging from San Rafael, CA to Florence, SC. Opponents cite things like increased traffic and worsening runoff....Read More
Natural Ventilation and A/C in the Tropics In the last 30 years, air conditioning has gone from a rare luxury to a widespread necessity in the South American tropics. As climate change brings more extreme weather to...Read More
Congratulations Moses Vaughan, FAIA WRNS Studio is proud to announce that Moses Vaughan has been elevated to the American Institute of Architects (AIA) College of Fellows. The College of Fellows honors members who have...Read More
Art Nodes: A Lynchian Wander through Storm King After many years of working with architects, I read Kevin Lynch’s The Image of the City. Paths, edges, landmarks, nodes, and districts: these concepts inform almost every design charrette I’ve...Read More
A Lesson in Watercolors: Snippets of Guatemala Admittedly, prior to touching down in Guatemala City I knew very little about the country of Guatemala. Perhaps I drew parallels to its neighbor Mexico to the north and shared...Read More
David Weinberg Joins WRNS Studio in New York David Weinberg has joined WRNS Studio as our New York studio Director of Interiors. With a focus on developing partnerships and growing new markets, he will join WRNS Studio’s national...Read More
Ceramics: Legacy and Longing for Craft Ceramics, one of the oldest and most enduring forms of art and craftsmanship, boasts a rich history that spans millennia. Rooted in both utilitarian and aesthetic purposes, ceramics have evolved...Read More
Lessons of Architectural Craft from Artistic Crafts Architects commonly refer to their field as the “Craft” of architecture. Craft as defined by Marion Webster is “an occupation, trade, or activity requiring manual dexterity or artistic skill.” Craft...Read More
Oysters: Salivation and Salvation of Maine’s Coastal Environments Oysters have long been known to be “ecosystem engineers.” These small but powerful bivalves can filter as much as five gallons of water a day as they feed on algae...Read More
Novel Fabrication Method for Tafoni-inspired Seawall Blocks, Increasing Complexity and Provision of Marine Microhabitats Abstract: The aim of this research is to develop fabrication processes for complex seawall modules using biodegradable formwork, which allows for the creation of heterogeneous habitat surfaces and voids not...Read More
Danish Impact: The Architectural Inspiration of Storytellers For a small country grasping to the shores of the Baltic and North Sea, Denmark is an enthralling kingdom containing an architectural tapestry rife with inspiration. Famed authors like Hans...Read More
E-1027: Innovation and Conflict France’s Cote d’Azur is home to many famous buildings—from the casinos of Monte Carlo to museums hosting Chagalls and Picassos. But none tell a story of innovation, conflict, and perseverance...Read More
Lāhainā Noon–Beyond a Shadow At all times, there is a single point on Earth that is closest in distance to the sun, where the sun is directly overhead and its rays strike the earth’s...Read More
Hand-Drawing in Practice Our staff share their thoughts on the importance of hand drawing as part of the design process. How is sketching important to your design process? Emily Jones: Sketching allows me...Read More
Celebrating John Ruffo’s Transition to Partner Emeritus at WRNS Studio As many of you know by now, after over 45 years of dreaming, playing, working, meeting, and cooking—18 of them at WRNS Studio—I am stepping into a new role. As...Read More
Pizza Oven Refinement: Enhancing the Dome and Cooking at Home In 2021 I set out to build an outdoor pizza oven in what I had assumed would be a roughly 1 month process. The goal was to create the pizza...Read More
WRNS Studio Seattle has been awarded the Materials, Beauty, and Health and Happiness Petals by the International Living Future Institute This new interior fit out supports WRNS’ mission to participate as a steward for sustainable design in the built environment; to model social awareness, sustainability and community; and to support...Read More
WRNS Studio’s New Senior Associate and Associates on leadership, studio culture, and architecture right now. Our new Senior Associate and Associates share their thoughts on architecture right now, returning to the studio, and what makes a good leader. What does it mean to you that...Read More
Sonoma Academy Janet Durgin Guild & Commons: A Story of Community, Sustainability, and Place At its core, the Sonoma Academy Janet Durgin Guild & Commons building is a story of community, sustainability, and place. Recognizing the positive impact nature has on health and wellbeing,...Read More
Public Architecture Around The Great Lakes In between a glimmering inland sea and blocks of steel, concrete, and glass, Lake Shore Drive in Chicago endures as a reward for harnessing one of the Great Lakes. Throughout...Read More
WRNS Studio Founding Partner Sam Nunes Elevated to AIA College of Fellows in 2022 WRNS Studio is proud to announce that Founding Partner, Sam Nunes, has been elevated to the American Institute of Architects (AIA) College of Fellows. The College of Fellows honors members who have...Read More
Why Materials Matter: At Home Education During the past 15 months many of us have been stuck at home due to the COVID-19 Pandemic. Some of us began sourdough starters, other learned music, and many escaped...Read More
Urban Karate / Urban Jujitsu Space, Mass, and Flows in Hong Kong and Tokyo “The problem of the architect is to deal simultaneously with the different speeds of movement and different rates of perception, to...Read More
WRNS Studio’s New Senior Associates and Associates on Sustainability, Leadership, and Getting Back to the Studio Our new Senior Associates and Associates share their thoughts on sustainability, what makes a good leader, and what they look forward to most about returning to the studio. WRNS Studio...Read More
WRNS Studio Promotes 35: Expanding and Diversifying the Firm’s Leadership Amid Market Uncertainty WRNS Studio has named fourteen senior associates and twenty-one associates to expand leadership and grow capabilities across offices in San Francisco, Seattle, Honolulu, and New York. The promotions represent talent...Read More
Five Ways to Advance Higher Education for Future Viability Higher education within the United States is in the midst of an evolutionary change. But colleges and universities were having their moment of reckoning long before COVID-19 disrupted life and...Read More
Eight Strategies For Successful Public-Private Partnerships Eight Strategies For Successful Public-Private Partnerships explores ways to evolve the P3 delivery method. This content is an outcome of engagement with industry leaders and within the Society for College...Read More
UC Merced Arts and Computational Sciences Building achieves LEED Platinum Certification The Arts and Computational Sciences Building advances the University’s ambitious “Merced 2020” expansion and acts in part to double the campus’s size with 1.2 million gross square feet using the...Read More
Tutor on The Block 826 Valencia is a nonprofit organization that provides one-on-one tutoring for under-resourced students to improve their writing skills and cultivate a love of learning. The Mission Bay Center, located on...Read More
Equity by Design: Metrics, Meaning & Matrices A Conversation with Rosa Sheng, Lilian Asperin, Annelise Pitts, Julia Mandell and Saskia Dennis-van Dijl We sat down with EQxD Founding Chair Rosa Sheng, Co-Chair Lilian Asperin, Research Chair Annelise...Read More
2019 AIA Women’s Leadership Summit Thoughts: Reframe I spent my formative years in Iran, a traditionally patriarchal society on the verge of modernization. The country’s first western-style public university was established in early 20th century...Read More
Lisbon’s Azulejos I visited Lisbon recently and was quite taken with this hillside city that overlooks the Atlantic—its sidewalk cafes, narrow stone-lined streets, colorful palette and especially its distinct layering of tiles....Read More
A Legacy Build in Shiwahori-Mura Let me tell you a story: Almost two centuries ago, in a small village Northeast of today’s Hiroshima, Japan, a small, stalwart man toils away planning what will become the...Read More
Dutch at Werk: Designing with Water The Dutch have an elevated sense for planning and adapting to the will of the sea. With one third of The Netherlands located below sea level, the Dutch have been...Read More
Toyota’s LEAN process provides a blueprint for successful project management Designing the process is the most valuable driver of the project. A few years ago, I learned about The Toyota Way, the codified methodology employed by one of the world’s...Read More
WRNS Studio’s New Senior Associates and Associates on Leadership and the Future of Design Our new Senior Associates and Associates share their thoughts on leadership and what makes WRNS an incredible place to work. WRNS defines its work as being about beauty, sustainability, and...Read More
Barcelona: City of Literature Barcelona’s narrow streets and fourteenth century stone walls contour numerous literary works, from Cervantes’ Don Quixote to Orwell’s Homage to Catalonia and Goytisolo’s Marks of Identity. More recently Barcelona winds...Read More
Less is More. More with Less Lilian, for her scholarship, partnered with BuildOn, a non-profit organization dedicated to addressing the international education crisis by ensuring that children living in poverty can attend school. In 2017 she traveled...Read More
WRNS Studio Promotes 18: Diversifies Expertise and Market Reach WRNS Studio — growing at an average of 20% annually — has named six senior associates and twelve associates to expand leadership across offices in San Francisco, Seattle, Honolulu, and...Read More
Public Architecture in the Deep South Spanish moss festoon aged oak, cresting into a deep vignette of antebellum grandeur. This is the one point perspective of Oak Alley from the Great River Road — a panorama...Read More
Circular City Week: New York Pressures on our waste management infrastructure have forced industries across sectors to address conventional sourcing and disposal within their supply chains. As an alternative, the circular economy emphasizes a closed...Read More
Could We Stay or Should We Go? Perspectives on NonProfit Displacement in the San Francisco Bay Area The Foundation Center recently interviewed us for their blog series, Could We Stay or Should We Go? Perspectives on NonProfit Displacement in the San Francisco Bay Area. We thought we’d...Read More
Spokes on a Wheel: Programming Two Sigma’s Collision Lab When Two Sigma—a Soho-based investment management firm that draws upon technology and the scientific method to guide innovation—hired us to imagine a Collision Lab in the Bridge at Cornell Tech,...Read More
Paving the Way for Sustainable Education Design The 2016 Best of Green Schools Awards, presented at the Green Schools Conference and Expo earlier this month, recognizes the people, schools, campuses and organizations that create healthy, sustainable and...Read More
Digital Fabrication: From Bracelets to Buildings As WRNS explores new technologies in our own practice, we have found a nice synergy between internal research and the project-driven explorations we're undertaking with clients for high-tech environments. We're...Read More
“Freespace” La Biennale di Venezia 16th International Architecture Exhibition This past July, I spent three days exploring the Venice Biennale, or La Biennale Architettura as it is officially called. For nearly six months, 63 participating countries and over 70...Read More
Project Director, Kanako Lathrop on Retail and Hospitality in Hawaii Kanako “Kana” Lathrop joined WRNS Studio’s Hawaii office in November of last year, bringing with her a doctorate in architecture and an extensive, international portfolio of retail and hospitality projects....Read More
Design Impact: Mental Health and Wellness Across the country there is a troubling spike in the number of college students with stress-related illnesses and mental health conditions. The American College Health Association, a nationwide advocate for...Read More
Opening Up Boeddeker Park: A Conversation with Brian Milman and Jennifer Isacoff San Francisco’s Tenderloin is the City’s densest neighborhood, and most of its residents live below the poverty line in small apartments—many of them single-occupancy—without access to back yards or green...Read More
Construction Observation: An On Site Education In the whirlwind of architecture – deadlines, design iterations, testing, retesting, sketching and drawing – it’s often all too easy to lose sight of the outcome of all of our...Read More
Clerestory Beams Play Light Off Shadow in Intuit’s New Marine Way Building Transforming the financial lives of individuals for over three decades, the people of Inuit have long felt part of something vital, and Intuit wanted to honor their employees with new...Read More
Make New History: A Vertical City for the Innovation Economy “Today, history represents neither an oppressive past that modernism tried to discard nor a retrograde mind-set against unbridled progress. Instead, at a time when there is too much information and...Read More
WRNS Studio named Top Firm in Architect Magazine’s 2018 Architect 50! WRNS Studio was named Top Firm in Architect magazine’s 2018 Architect 50! This is the second time we’ve been recognized with the #1 spot in this national ranking of firms...Read More
Crafting a Design Tool – Parametric Families Sharing knowledge is important to me, whether organically in the day-to-day workflow with my colleagues or through more formal large-group presentations and seminars. Over the years, I’ve developed a particular...Read More
Empathy in the Built Environment Architecture is often conveyed as a highly technical practice dealing with complex geometry and difficult calculations. However, relationship building – between site and context, architect and client, community and space...Read More
Malama Aina and Ho’oponopono: Reflecting on Hawai’i’s History to Look Forward This year marks the 125th anniversary of the overthrow of the Kingdom of Hawaiʻi. A recent event in Honolulu commemorating this anniversary was attended by thousands of people, marching from the...Read More
GFRC: Finding Poetry in the Practical In a way, one’s first impression of a building is its exterior envelope or “skin,” comparable to glancing over the first lines of a book, or to a casual handshake....Read More
Intern Spotlight: Niamh Gilmore From Denmark to the Netherlands to London, and few places in between, Niamh joined WRNS Studio last year. We sat down with her and mentor Tim Morshead to discuss what...Read More
Sacred Heart Stevens Net-Zero Library: First In The U.S. To Achieve Net Zero Energy Building Certification The Stevens Library at Sacred Heart Schools is the first library in the U.S. and the first school building in California to achieve Net Zero Energy Building (NZEB) Certification from...Read More
Light + Space: Irwin’s Portals of Perception Dia:Beacon The early morning sky and the beat of the steel pull my gaze to the Hudson’s flat surface, the fawn landscape. It swishes by. I’m headed up to Beacon,...Read More
Summer Reading List With summer in full swing, we again share our book recommendations for the architecturally-inclined.Read More
Virtual Reality Technology: New Realities in Design and Construction I recently presented at the 2013 Alternative Project Delivery Summit as part of a team of expert speakers from diverse disciplines. The presentation and interactive demonstration focused on how virtual...Read More
Firehouse Clinics There has been much talk in the past few years about food deserts — areas where residents have little to no access to healthy food. Not surprisingly, there is another,...Read More
Lifting the Hood on Design Software While many of our tools at WRNS Studio are analog – we still go through a lot of pencil lead, trace paper, and chipboard – we work extensively with digital...Read More
Marfa is a State of Mind Having grown up the canyons of the Santa Monica Mountains and having lived for a spell in Bolinas, I’ve always been drawn to weird far-flung places full of funky characters...Read More
Breathing New Life into Hardware We’re always seeking ways to do more with less while staying on the cutting edge of design and technology. That’s why we’ve partnered with TechExchange to breathe new life into...Read More
WRNS Studio’s New Associates on Leadership, Studio Culture, and What’s Next Our new Associates share their thoughts on leadership and what makes WRNS an incredible place to work.Read More
From Paper to Pixel – BIM @ WRNS Technology is integral to the entire lifecycle of our design and project delivery process. From early on, hand sketching and paper study models are our generative design tools, which we...Read More
WRNS in Hawai’i WRNS opened a second office in Honolulu. When we tell people, curiosity knits the brow, followed by a contemplative tilt of the head, then the knowing nod: yes, of course,...Read More
Marfa is a State of Mind. Art Mecca Step 2: Imagine Marfa’s big economies have been cattle ranching, war and art. Fort DA Russell’s closure after the Second World War, followed by a devastating drought in the 1950’s, took their toll...Read More
Workplace + Public Realm The Built Environment is Poised for a Transformational Shift as Work and Public Life MergeRead More
Tim Morshead Named Partner: A Conversation on Design-Forward Practice When WRNS Studio promotes new partners, we look five, ten, fifteen years into the future and ask who will be at the helm, carrying our legacy of site-sensitive, sustainable design...Read More
Tahoe City Transit Center This new transit center is a vital step toward achieving a sustainable regional transportation network. In the spirit of doing more with less, our design transcends the simple right-sizing of...Read More
Pushing the Envelope with BIM At the 2011 conference of the Pacific Coast chapter of APPA, “Leadership in Educational Facilities,” one of our designers, Jason Halaby, delivered a presentation on BIM with Warren Jacobs, former...Read More
Marfa is a State of Mind. Art Mecca Step 3: Immerse “It takes a great deal of time and thought to install work carefully. This should not always be thrown away. Most art is fragile and some should be placed and...Read More
Workplace + Public Realm: Flexibility The primary driver of workplace flexibility is future-proofing. Anticipating market pressures for adaptability, both now and into the future, real estate professionals seek buildings that can be modified to suit...Read More
Lilian Asperin Named Partner: A Conversation on Inspiration and Equity in Architecture Reflecting WRNS Studio's commitment to effect meaningful change within our communities, Lilian Asperin has been named partner. Lilian approaches architecture with wide eyes, curiosity, and a healthy dose of discomfort,...Read More
Water is Energy Water is one of the most precious resources we have, and we have to be mindful of its use. Although the world is 70 percent water, 97 percent of that...Read More
Room for Thought: a Market Street Prototyping Festival installation How do we create more opportunities for both playful interaction and quiet introspection, in an increasingly dense urban landscape? Room for Thought synthesized these two objectives in the form of...Read More
Workplace + Public Realm: Jurisdictional Dynamics In its creation, the built environment is subject to significant Jurisdictional Dynamics that influence the success of a place. The development process—a balancing act between Market Forces and Public Policy/Land...Read More
WRNS Studio Looks Forward with 18 Promotions WRNS Studio has named three partners, three senior associates, and twelve associates to support our tremendous growth. The promotions mark a new chapter of leadership at WRNS Studio as we...Read More
The BRIDGE at the Presidio In 2013, WRNS Studio, in partnership with Chora, was one of three finalists invited by the Presidio Trust to develop a new cultural institution at the former Commissary Site at...Read More
Timelessness, Beauty and Poetry in Planning “The challenge—our challenge—is to produce for generations to come—not just for today or for fifty years hence—an efficient, flexible, and simple solution to the design of your Academy; and yet—and...Read More
Workplace + Public Realm: Public Mesh One of the most profound changes in workplace design has been fueled by the cultural desires of today’s workforce. People want to be someplace: they seek specificity and connectedness. The...Read More
WRNS Scholarship In 2015, WRNS Studio started an annual scholarship program to encourage and promote inspiration and critical thinking in design and architecture. Scholarships vary widely and support things like individual projects,...Read More
Workplace + Public Realm: Security Perhaps the biggest challenge to the potential benefits of the Public Mesh in supporting flexibility and work/life integration comes from the security necessitated by work. The nature of security has...Read More
Learning from Alaska: Sustainability and the Conservation Movement, Part Two It was critical to get visitors thinking about what they’d seen and experienced, as the stakes were high for Alaska in 1974 and supportive voices needed...Read More
The Bridge School Expansion The Bridge School is housed in a series of very modest trailers that sit on property belonging to a public school that’s part of the Hillsborough City School District, one...Read More
Workplace + Public Realm: Territoriality Boundaries A successful Public Mesh hinges upon an understanding of how to conduct oneself and interact with others in the complicated network of territoriality and boundaries that is the public realm....Read More